SACDs - Chopin

As early as 1948 Richter recorded a Polonaise Op.25 No.1, and in 1950 the Ballade No.2 Op.38, few Studies… An avowed enemy of 'completism' the present programme is a fabulous example of his choices, excluding the famous Funeral Sonata, Walzes or First Piano Concerto…, leaving these to Gilels: ‘far better than me' in his opinion!

Daniil Trifonov, winner of the XIVth International Tchaikovsky Competition, is probably the world’s most exciting young pianist. On his first Mariinsky recording he joins Valery Gergiev for a scintillating performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1. Daniil also presents a selection of recital repertoire including music by Tchaikovsky, Chopin and Liszt transcriptions of Schubert and Schumann.

Written for Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto is one of his most popular works. Revised three times, including an arrangement for two pianos, the concerto was finally set in stone in 1888 and it is this version that is most frequently performed today. Tchaikovsky balances core motivic elements with a sense of lyrical spontaneity to create a technically challenging but instantly appealing work.

At only 21 years old, Daniil Trifonov has won countless awards, including the Chopin Competition in Warsaw, the Rubinstein Competition in Tel Aviv and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (Gold Medal). Valery Gergiev personally awarded Trifonov the ‘Grand Prix’ in Moscow, an additional award given to the best overall competitor in any category of the International Tchaikovsky Competition.

In 2011, Trifonov gave his debut with the London Symphony Orchestra and has since performed with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Mariinsky Orchestra, as well as touring throughout the USA, Europe and the Far East. In the coming season he will make debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony and Chicago Symphony orchestras, as well as performing recitals at Salle Pleyel, Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall and Wigmore Hall.

Following the success of their recordings of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Petrushka, the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Andrew Litton here perform The Firebird.

The Firebird was Igor Stravinsky’s first full-length ballet, but not his first collaboration with Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes – he orchestrated two piano compositions by Chopin (also featured on this disc) for use in another project.

Andrew Litton here conducts the original ballet score.

The disc also includes arrangements of pieces by Tchaikovsky and Sibelius, ending with Stravinsky’s tongue-in-cheek 1955 Greeting Prelude for the 80th birthday of Pierre Monteux.

The Bergen Philharmonic’s disc featuring The Rite of Spring and Petrushka was met with critical acclaim – short-listed for a 2011 Gramophone Award, named Editor’s Choice in Classic FM Magazine.

This 2-channel hybrid SACD features the much admired Ukrainean pianist Sergei Edelmann in a collection of pieces for solo piano by Frederick Chopin. The disc includes the Four Ballades, as well as the Barcarolle in F sharp minor, opus 60, the Fantasie in F minor, opus 49, and the Polonaise No. 7 in A flat major known as the “Polonaise Fantasie”.

Born in Lvov, Ukraine in 1960, Sergei Edelmann comes from a long and outstanding musical heritage. He was taught to play by his father Alexander Edelmann, a renowned pianist and teacher who had links to Vladimir Horowitz and Sviatoslav Richter. In his native country Sergei’s first orchestral performance was at the age of 10 playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1. He subsequently performed extensively in recitals and with orchestras throughout the old USSR. His BMG Classics/RCA Red Seal CDs with the Bamberg Symphony under the baton of Claus Peter Flor and the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra with Paavo Berglund include both Mendelssohn Concertos and the Strauss Burlesque, and his series of solo recordings of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, and Prokofiev have garnered enthusiastic critical acclaim.

Frederick Chopin’s Four Ballades represent some of the most challenging music in the solo piano repertoire. They were composed between 1835 and 1842, and were the first to use the word “Ballade” (a term which was previously associated with 19th century French poetry) in a musical context. Despite a shared lyrical quality, each piece is however highly distinctive in style and mood.

A calendar filled with orchestral concerts and chamber recitals in many of the world’s most prestigious venues has given the clarinettist Martin Fröst ample opportunity to develop a wide range of encores, for every occasion. Known for the imaginatively themed concert programmes he devises with various musician friends, he has also explored a number of musical genres.

These aspects of his artistry are both demonstrated on this constantly engaging disc, which includes immortal gems such as Rachmaninov’s Vocalise and Kreisler’s Liebeslied as well as pieces rather less usual in a classical context: Charlie Chaplin’s Smile and the klezmer traditional Let’s Be Happy.

Throughout the programme Fröst receives the expert support of the pianist Roland Pöntinen, a chamber music partner of long standing who has also been involved in devising many of the imaginative arrangements, for instance of Vittorio Monti’s Csárdás. Three other musical companions of Fröst’s make cameo appearances, with mezzo-soprano Malena Ernman joining the clarinet in the head-long flight of not one, but two bumble-bees. Torleif Thedéen’s cello sings a heartfelt Ave Maria while Svante Henryson, also a cellist, plays in his own duo piece Off Pist.

“His virtuosity lies in his exceptional dexterity and agility…and in his daring control of the instrument’s dynamic and expressive extremes.” The Times